MONTEGO BAY, St James — Montegonians breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after a $6-million fix to a heavily used section of Howard Cooke Boulevard was completed just in time for Monday's start to the new school year.

Many had feared that work being done on a bridge near the Harmony Park section of the highway would have caused a traffic nightmare. The project, which began five days late on August 22, was supposed to last for six weeks but was done in less than half that time.

"The road being closed was a significant concern to road users, especially ahead of the opening of schools since it is a very busy corridor. We're happy that we were able to complete ahead of schedule, and in so doing we anticipate a freer flow of traffic," community relations officer for the National Works Agency's (NWA) Western Region Janel Ricketts told the Jamaica Observer.

"We are now happy to see the end of that project... so that tomorrow… come the start of school, we anticipate we'll have no undue delays," she added.

In an August 12 release announcing the road closure and alternate route, Ricketts said the NWA had needed to move quickly to fix the bridge's expansion joints.

"[They] are defective and require immediate repairs. This repair work involves the demolition and reconstruction of the concrete abutment to the bridge, as well as the removal and replacement of the defective expansion joints," she said then.

The announcement was met with questions about the timing of the project and the impact it would have on commuters once traffic increased with the resumption of classes.

On Sunday, Ricketts told the Observer that the NWA's decision to use a high-strength, fibre-reinforced, fast-curing concrete made all the difference in the completion time.

It took a little over a week to cure, instead of the 28 days it would have taken the other option.

"We used stronger concrete (6,000 PSI) with special additives to speed up the curing process," she explained.

"The expansion joint was defective; one section had a hole in it because the thing was so damaged. So we removed the damaged expansion joint, removed the concrete foundation, and then constructed a new foundation to serve as the base for the expansion joint," she said of the work that was completed in record time.

She thanked road users for their understanding while the bridge was closed.

"We are very grateful for the assistance we received, from the police in particular, during the period of work — they really helped a lot in terms of traffic control," she said.

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